Driver admits to inhaling aerosol dusters while driving

Published 5:00 pm, Friday, March 25, 2011

A 23-year-old is still in custody Friday evening after admitting to police that he was high on inhalants as he fled from officers.

David Clinton Cagle, of Midland, is being held on a third-degree felony for evading arrest and two misdemeanors counts of driving while intoxicated and possession or use of an inhalant drug for his alleged actions Wednesday.

Midland police officers were alerted to a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of the road on the 3300 block of Camarie Avenue at about 1 p.m. Before arriving on the scene, dispatch advised the officer that a witness said there were two cans of aerosol dusters, and it appeared the driver had been inhaling them, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Dispatch contacted the officer shortly after and said a Midland Independent School District officer had attempted to make contact with Cagle, when Cagle took off westbound on Camarie Avenue, the report read.

Officers were able to locate the vehicle and eventually were able to make a felony stop. Police officers said they observed the driver "swerving all over the road," the report read.

When officers made contact, they said Cagle had a look of confusion on his face and was having a difficult time placing the vehicle in park. Cagle told police he had just purchased two cans of Dust Destroyer and that he was inhaling them.

He told officers he didn't remember stopping in the middle of the road or the encounter with the MISD officer but admitted to passing out. He also admitted to police that he was getting high inhaling dusters and that it sometimes causes him to black out, the report read.

Cagle told police that he was inhaling the toxic chemicals as he was driving and admitted to being too intoxicated to be driving. The witness who alerted police to the incident also confirmed that Cagle was inhaling while driving, police said.

He provided a blood sample before being transported to a health department facility.

Cagle is being held on a $7,000 bond for the felony and misdemeanor charges. If convicted of the third-degree felony of evading arrest in a motor vehicle, he could serve up to 10 years in prison.